The Emergency Oven

By Michael, on December 6th, 2012

This is one of the most creative ideas I have come across in a long time. It is not just an excellent idea for emergencies but can be a great help on camping trips or even if your power goes out for an extended period of time due to bad weather. This would be a fun activity to do at home with your children or a group activity for churches, scouting, or other organizations. I think this would be a delight for children to try out with adult supervision of course. It is super simple and is said to work extremely well. The site on which I discovered this oven said that they had even used it to prepare an entire turkey.

Picture Credit –Global Sun Oven – Solar Cooker. Why not use free power to cook your stuff and keep the heat out of the kitchen.

There are only a few inexpensive items you need to create this emergency oven. A box with a lid that is deep and wide enough to fit whatever you need to bake into; for example an aluminum sheet cake pan or an aluminum turkey pan. A good box for this would be an office type filing box with those nice lids. You will also need several wire hangers, aluminum foil, a aluminum baking pan or anything similar to put your coals in, matches, tongs, pliers, and scissors or a knife. Of course you will also need whatever food you want to cook in it. Try baking something easy like a boxed cake first time around just to see how it works.

First you will need to line the inside of your box and the lid of the box with aluminum foil. You can also glue the aluminum foil on to make sure it lasts more than one usage. The next step is to poke three holes in each end about half way down the box in a straight line. Then take three wire hangers and use your pliers to straighten them out and put them through the holes. These wires will be the shelf for you to bake your food on. After feeding them through then take your pliers and bend and twist them on the ends because you will want to keep them taut so that they will hold the weight of your food. You will probably need someone to help you with this to ensure that the wires are tight and solid.

The next step is to poke a few air holes in your box to let out gases and let in oxygen. You may not need these extra holes if the holes you make in the sides are large enough after trying to get the wires taut they sometimes get quite a bit bigger. After you have gotten your oven prepared the next step will be to get your oven heated up to the right temperature.

It was so interesting for me to find out that each piece of charcoal supplies about forty degrees of heat! Did you know that? Well it does according to my sources. Nine briquettes will supply the heat of a 360 degree oven and so on. That is approximately the temperature you will need if you are going to bake a cake. What you need to do is to put the nine briquettes into an aluminum pie pan or something similar and get them started using your matches. It may take a little time to get them going but when you do they need to burn until they are mostly white (when they are there hottest).

Using your tongs (and not your hands) place the charcoal down into the bottom of your box being careful not to disturb your wire shelving. Use your tongs to spread your coals out so that the heat will be distributed evenly. If you have not already done so this is when you should prepare your box cake or whatever you are baking. Then place the food you are baking on the wire rack and securely place the lid on top.

Now just set your timer or watch the clock for the recommended baking time your food calls for. If what you are baking takes over forty-five minutes to an hour you will need to swap out the coals for new ones around the forty-five minute mark. So keep this in mind when baking something that will take a little longer. And do not use this oven on a wooden deck or in the grass or on anything flammable! Cement or rock would be the most practical or even metal but be cautious about the heat of the metal.

Now the only thing left to do is open the box and see your finished product. You could live comfortably using this oven and a grill for quite some time if you had no power. Just make sure you have plenty of pantry items stocked at all times and do not forget the can opener!

The last time my family and I were in a storm that left us without power for two weeks we were not prepared at all and discovered we did not have a hand operated can opener! This is when your electric can opener is of absolutely no help. In times like these you will be glad you have canned meats along with your canned goods and plenty of boxed pantry items.

I was thrilled when I came across this oven. What an ingenious idea and so simple with nothing costly to buy. I had everything I needed to create this oven at home already, even the box except that I had to empty out a box we had some things stored in out in the garage. After you have this oven made up you can re-use it or discard it and make a new one when you need it just make sure you always have the materials on hand. You could store this easily however and there would be no need to make it again until you completely wore it out. Go ahead and give it a try!

Author Byline:
Ken Myers as an Expert Advisor on multiple household help issues to many Organizations and groups, and is a mentor for other “Mom-preneurs” seeking guidance. He is a regular contributor of “www.gonannies.com/”. You can get in touch with him at kmyers.ceo@gmail.com.